


Here beneath the stars, remind me who we are

by CaffeinatedCopyeditor



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Episode Related, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, set post episode 129
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 06:20:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30118476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaffeinatedCopyeditor/pseuds/CaffeinatedCopyeditor
Summary: When Veth looks to the street below, there is only an ocean of darkness that mirrors the sky above. A jagged line of rooftops marks the difference between them.'Do you miss it?' Veth asks, voice thin.'Miss what?' Caleb replies, though he knows.-Safe for the moment, Veth seeks comfort from her oldest friend. Together, she and Celeb reminisce.
Relationships: Nott | Veth Brenatto & Caleb Widogast, Yeza Brenatto/Nott | Veth Brenatto
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	Here beneath the stars, remind me who we are

**Author's Note:**

> Quick warning for vague references to canon trauma, specifically relating to the events of episode C2E129. Stay safe!

It is an easy enough feat to leave behind a soft bed, containing a man she loves, for another that is much the same.

Veth Brenatto is no stranger to the shadows.

She slips into them, away from Yeza, and out into the wide hallway. Caleb's room might as well be her own, and the lock on his door breaks like ice beneath a tooth. When she curls beside him, he makes a sleepy sound. 

Veth giggles.

'Hey there, Caleb.'

'Veth.'

'Are you sleeping?'

He opens one gleaming eye, reminiscent of a woken cat.

'Not anymore. Though, I do believe you are in the wrong man's bed.'

'Untrue,' she replies, simply. 'Any bed I lay in is mine, and any man who occupies it ought to know that.'

Caleb laughs softly, turning his face into his pillow to muffle the noise. Veth continues talking as though uninterrupted. 

'Besides, I am not here for anything untoward. I am incredibly loyal.'

'Yah, I know that.'

'Good,' she says softly, followed by a hesitant pause. Veth stands and extends a hand to Caleb. 'Come with me.'

Caleb seems to be properly awake now, and takes note of her words. Veth does not miss the way his eyes scan for a pack or a map. He must think she wants to run.

'I would follow you anywhere,' Caleb responds, with a smile. Neither of them mention that they both know he is lying.

Veth leads the way, through the winding corridors and up onto dusty streets. They find a dry spot on a secluded rooftop, an easy enough trick if you are well practiced. Caleb offers a hand to hold, and she takes it without thinking. Her fingers do not fit between his the way they used to.

Veth searches the sky for the right words. Caleb speaks first.

'You were never one for stargazing. You always preferred to find sparkles on the streets below.'

'True, true,' Veth nods. 'A vantage point like this was useful. You could really see their jewellery shine. Of course, the dark-vision helped.'

'Now you know what it was like for me,' Caleb huffs. 'I could never see all those pretty stones you were pointing out.'

Its a fair point. When Veth looks to the street below, there is only an ocean of darkness that mirrors the sky above. A jagged line of rooftops marks the difference between them.

'Do you miss it?' Veth asks, voice thin.

'Miss what?' Caleb replies, though he knows. 

'Living consequence free,' she sighs. 'Steal from one town, move to the next. No guilt, no doubt.'

Caleb squeezes her hand, and she brings her other to grasp at his knuckles. Neither needs to mention the consequences of yesterdays battle. They are known.

'Veth...' Caleb breathes, like a prayer. 'There were always consequences, and I was born of guilt.'

'But its not the same!' She whines. 'Like, it was just you and me, Caleb! Against the world. It didn't matter what anyone else thought, as long as I had my Caleb.'

He brings his knees up, reaching inside his cloak to find his glowy-orb. He lights it, and she wishes he hadn't, because she knows he can see her tear tracks.

'You know, that I will always be your Caleb,' he smiles, weakly. 'But you have never been mine, Veth. You have had a family for as long as I have known you and - don't pull that face. You never belonged to me alone, like I did you. But I love them now, too, and adore the way you smile when you are with them.'

'But you're...what? Jealous?'

'Nein, no. I am grateful. When I lived only for you, I was putting a tremendous weight on your shoulders. And you were only saddened by their absence. Now, we both have others on whom to depend. It is fairer.'

Veth shakes her head, plaits whipping wildly in the breeze.

'It doesn't feel fair. It feels cruel.'

'Caring can be terribly cruel,' Caleb agrees. 'But also incredibly beautiful, I think.'

Veth snort laughs.

'Wow, so insightful. You're a genius, Caleb.'

'Well, yah, we knew that already.'

The pair turn to eachother, eyes catching like flint hitting leather. No spark, just contact. A look that leaves a mark.

Veth doesn't know when Caleb became her family, but he did, and he is.

'I don't want everything to feel so permanent,' Veth whispers into the space between them. 'I want to leave it all behind. We used to be untethered.'

'Do you want to run, truly? Should we go?' He asks, and his uncertainty breaks her heart.

'You wouldn't come with me,' she says, honestly. 'You have too much to fight for.'

Caleb turns away, as though ashamed, but Veth cannot match his emotions. As hurt as she is, she finds pride in his will. Caleb Widogast is not living for anyone else, now. He has goals of his own, now. Its leaves a pleasant ache at the pit of Veth's stomach.

Perhaps, she has not failed both of her sons.

'Veth,' he tells the sky. 'I could not leave for you, now. So, I will not be selfish enough to ask you to stay for me.'

'Of course I'm going to stay,' she says, no humour in it. 'There's way too much on the line to give up now.'

The sea of darkness and rooftops around them seems a sturdy thing. It is difficult to acknowledge how temporary it all may be.

'I wish things were easier for you,' Caleb says sadly. 'You and yours deserve so much better.'

'My boys do deserve better,' Veth nods. 'I want to protect them, though, and I'm going to. I just...I just want things to be less complicated, like they used to be.'

Caleb laughs loudly, a rare enough occurrence that even Veth is startled by it. He soon buries his mouth in his palm, a wry smile the only remnant of his outburst.

'We met in a jail cell, using fresh names, each of us warped beyond our designs. Was that a simple life?'

Veth grins wickedly at him.

'That _was_ one heck of a breakout.'

'The first of many,' he agrees, warmly.

Veth places her head against his shoulder, and though Caleb does not physically reach out to her, a large cat suddenly in her lap provides a familiar comfort.

They sit like that for a long while. It is entirely comfortable for both parties. This is a home they made.

'Thanks, Caleb.' Veth speaks up eventually, twirling Frumpkin's hair through her fingertips. 'I needed this.'

'And I need you,' he replies, an admission as easy as breathing. 'But we both need sleep, yah? Lets go back inside.'

'Sure. Okay.'

She lets him guide them back down the drainpipe, and out of the mouth of an alley that they would have slept in, once. He takes her back down to a pair of rooms that could have been only one.

'Goodnight, Veth. We will win,' he says, simply. 

'Night Caleb,' Veth yawns. 'I hope you're right.'

She tiptoes back inside, past her son's bed, to her husband. He is solid and reliable against her back. Each time she reunites with him feels like the first, like magnets connecting. She listens for his steady heartbeat, and her son's breathing, and it is a symphony that brings her great peace.

Veth Brenatto loves deeply, and eternally. She decides, then and there, that she's not going to let anything get in the way of that.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please leave a kudos/comment if u want to!


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